Fishing

There have been decent shoals of them off Plymouth the last few years, as it's going dark with your shrimp rigs there are usually plenty to fill a barbie with, Cornish sardines as they are now though, clever marketing that. I've tried them as bait but they are very soft I would expect the bass to love them. I tried working a shrimp pattern fly along the edge of the failing tide in the Tamar last night for Bass with no joy though, several decent Mullet but millions of small brown shrimp in the margins, looked fishy as fook!

Spent yesterday afternoon in the Royal William Yard  and while cooling off over by the sea wall there were quite a few largish(maybe 15-18 inches) fishies cruising past the wall, I'm no seadog or Iggy so haven't a clue what they were but they looked a silver/grey colour and they could swim  

Probally grey mullet

Going to have a dabble with my 12ft beachcaster rod down at Blagdons meadow by the Plym later on this week couple of hours either side of the tide, anyone fished this bit before?

Methods?
Baits?

Was thinking of fishing along the bottom but wary of snags, losing tackle etc.

Where is Blagdoon's Meadow? I have not fished the estuary for years, spinning rod, ragworm on a double paternoster. Eels, schoolies and maybe a flounder. I have caught mullet too on rag on the bottom.

seadog wrote:

Where is Blagdoon's Meadow? I have not fished the estuary for years, spinning rod, ragworm on a double paternoster. Eels, schoolies and maybe a flounder. I have caught mullet too on rag on the bottom.

Just past the rowing club on the left.

I saw some Bass hunting smelt in the shallows of Sutton Harbour last week at low tide. Years since I caught a smelt. Had a yarn with an Iraqui fishing off the Elphinstone catching pollack on feathers but had been catching herring. I didn't see any herring so it could have been pilchard. Always used to get herring in the Hamo.aze

Good mackerel fishing at mount batten pier last week.

Iggy wrote:

Where you in the world then Moisty?

Bonn Cologne region of Germany Iggy,

Sometimes dip a line in the Rhine. It's full of fish.

Even the small barbel put up a hell of a fight in the current!

I've had bream, roach, barbel, perch (taste ok), pike (taste ok too), zander (delicious), wells (delicious), eels (smoke and eat them) plus a few other species which I didn't recognise. I've seen a few carp in the harbours too.

There are also some big crabs (Chinese?) which have one very large claw. Also loads of crayfish too.

There are also salmon and trout. The salmon now run up the Rhine and spawn in the Sieg.

The river has been cleaned up. I've been swimming in the river a couple of times (in a safe place).

Not as good as the sea but better than nothing!

Big carp and a lot of them in Drake's reservoir plus a Turtle. Visit the cafe in the corner and see the reservoir.

Punchdrunk wrote:

Going to have a dabble with my 12ft beachcaster rod down at Blagdons meadow by the Plym later on this week couple of hours either side of the tide, anyone fished this bit before?

Methods?
Baits?

Was thinking of fishing along the bottom but wary of snags, losing tackle etc.

If you're fishing the estuary do a rekky at lowish tide to see exactly where the channels are running. Stating the obvious but that's where you need to be putting your bait. Casting out on to mud flats 'blind' will be pretty unproductive.

You can pick up nice flounder on worm if you fish at low tide and try all the deep holes that you can see, give each likely spot ten minutes then move on. The deep pits around the bridge supports are another good spot for this.

Czarcasm wrote:

Punchdrunk wrote:

Going to have a dabble with my 12ft beachcaster rod down at Blagdons meadow by the Plym later on this week couple of hours either side of the tide, anyone fished this bit before?

Methods?
Baits?

Was thinking of fishing along the bottom but wary of snags, losing tackle etc.

If you're fishing the estuary do a rekky at lowish tide to see exactly where the channels are running. Stating the obvious but that's where you need to be putting your bait. Casting out on to mud flats 'blind' will be pretty unproductive.

Had a walk down there this morning when the tide was out and you're talking a good 200-250 meters from firm ground to hit the channel in the centre which even with a 12ft beach-caster and a 150 gram sinker is way above and beyond my novice casting capabilities.
(I normally Fly-cast for Trout)
I then drove to have a look at mountbatten and how anyone can anyone fish that place along the bottom without losing all their tackle in the weeds and rocks ?!
I want to have good bottom fish with my new gear but trying to find a suitable spot without driving miles is turning into the quest for the Holy Grail.

Shore fishing in and around the immediate area of the city isn't going to produce many specimens unfortunately. It depends how far you're willing to go, but the Kingsbridge estuary has some fantastic marks in and around the Salcombe/East Portlemouth areas. I've had numerous big Thornback Ray from those parts on peeler crab.  Likewise the North Cornish coast. Put your beachcaster to good use and fish the beaches between Newquay and Bude with live sandeel for Small-eyed Ray after the sun goes down ( night fishing is way more productive) Only fish a two hour period either side of low tide though, or you're unlikely to be putting your bait out far enough. If you're on a daytime session fish the same beaches but put your live eel into the surf and you may pick up a bass if you're lucky.   

Tight lines.

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FFS! Iggy get yer boat out.

seadog wrote:

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FFS! Iggy get yer boat out.

It took girls and without a fishing rod

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I think they used the one in the middle as bait.

I have been practising with my new beach caster most evenings this week, never realised how hard it is to get that 6oz chunk of lead past 100 metres without getting a blasted over-run on the multiplier reel. Tried the pendulum cast but that is waaay above my level at this stage.
Did a bit of googling and found out the multiplier I had bought was a cheap and nasty Shakespeare model and designed for boat fishing not beach-casting.
I went on e-bay and ordered a second hand Daiwa Millionaire 7HT Mag multiplier reel, which basically compensates for idiots like me who are always late in getting the thumb over spool in time for the lead hitting the water. (hence the birdnests)
Once I can master this I might take Czarcasm's advice and head up to North Cornwall for a night session and see how it goes.

Anchovy school at Scripps Pier, July 8, 2014: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Key stage 1 or 2 Seadog?

No closed season here I'm glad to say. Feck me that tuna! I would have steaked it up and sold it to the pubs! What a fish I wonder what killed it? I wondered whether a netsman had it and shit himself and dumped it but Any fisherman I know wouldn't put that back if he caught it.
As for the multipliers punch start off with quite a heavy line, say 25lb, no lower than twenty it won't birds nest like lower breaking strain lines. When you get the hang then you can use a heavy shock leader then lighter line behind it but watch your thumb on the knot. I tend to cast straight overhead but rock the weight back towards me then away and at its furthest point bang it out. Keep putting the power in as you build up the cast, smoothly. You will cast way further with an average multiplier cast than with a fixed spool reel. The other thing is if it is blowing a big south westerly go to somewhere like Harlyn where the wind will be offshore and you will cast like a pro with all that help.  
A great mark right next to Harlyn is Mother Ivy's bay, fish off the rocks on the right hand side (next to the metal spike) and you can easily bang a bait out into deep water, watch the shore break if the surf is big when landing fish.

Had a golden grey mullet about three pounds with the spear gun, barbied it and was bleddy good, also a couple of small brown crab and some velvet swimmers in a chowder, scrummy.

Sounds good, back on the boat Tuesday so perhaps a fish or two next.

I remember going fishing with my Dad when i was a 13/14/15 in the summer school holidays back in the 1970s. Mostly Bass fishing at remote Cornish coastal areas, beach fishing or on the River Fal.

Some of the remote places we fished at you had to climb down by a rope to get to the perfect spots..

We used a majority of the Mackerel we caught as bait, took the rest home for ourselves to eat and some for the Cat too.

Biggest Bass i ever caught was a seven pounder and it gave one hell of a fight before landing, that was on the River Fal..

Good times and good memories....

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Good news.

Let's hope they do not decimate them this time.